According to the media regulator, many users of video-sharing sites such as Onlyfans, Twitch and Snapchat will have difficulty reading and understanding the site’s rules.

Ofcom looked at how easily people could access the terms and conditions set forth by the six platforms.

He found that advanced reading skills were needed to understand them.

He also found that their complexity and length meant they were not suitable for children.

Jessica Zucker, director of online privacy policy at Ofcom, said:
“Terms and conditions are fundamental to protecting people, including children, from harm when using social video sites and apps. “That’s because flagging potentially harmful videos – and effectively moderating that content – can only work if there are clear and unambiguous rules underpinning the process,” She added.

“Our report shows that lengthy, confusing and in some cases inconsistent terms written by several UK video-sharing platforms put users and moderators at risk. inside the dark.”

At nearly 16,000 words, OnlyFans has the longest serving time, taking adult users over an hour to read, according to the watchdog.

This is followed by Twitch, Snapchat, TikTok, Brand New Tube and finally BitChute, with 2,017 words – it would take an average adult 8 minutes to read.

Ofcom has scored “readability” for each platform’s terms of use. All but TikTok were rated as “difficult to read and understand best for high school graduates”. While users without a college degree may understand TikTok’s rules, Ofcom found that the rules are still confusing for younger users of the platform.

The report also points out that Snapchat, TikTok, and BitChute use “click wrap” agreements – in which the platforms fully agree to terms of service when signing up.

Since users are not prompted or encouraged to access the rules, it is easier to accept them without opening or reading them.

Ofcom’s research also determined that users may not fully understand what is and isn’t allowed on their site. He found that OnlyFans and Snapchat provide some insight to users about banned content. The study also revealed that users were unclear about the consequences of violating the rules established by the platform.

While TikTok and Twitch have dedicated pages that provide detailed information about the penalties they impose if they break their rules, the other providers provide almost no information to users about actions that moderators can take.

The Ofcom report looked at content moderators across all six platforms and found they weren’t always adequately trained in how to enforce their terms and conditions.

The quality of internal moderators resources varies widely from site to site, and a few provide specific guidance on what to do during a crisis.

“We share Ofcom’s goal of ensuring that our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service are understandable to all who use Snapchat,” a Snapchat spokesperson told the BBC. “As Ofcom acknowledges, we have a number of good practices in place, including the use of easy-to-read tools to regularly review language.

“We’re in the process of updating our guidelines to include more information about moderation and allowed and unauthorized content. We’ll continue to collect feedback and work with Ofcom to improve our performance.” make sure our rules are easy to understand.”